The Bed of Procrustes

Bob, in Greek mythology, a chap named Procrustes had a hobby, or he thought it to be a hobby. He would kidnap tourists in his part of Greece, take them home to his bed, tie them to the bed, and cut their limbs to fit the size of the bed, or stretch their limbs to fit the size of the bed! Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written a book on Procrustes called The Bed of Procrustes. Taleb is also the author of the classic The Black Swan study of chaos and complexity today. For Taleb, the bed of procrustes represents our human tendency to engage in wishful thinking - to the harm of others, and ultimately ourselves. We "stretch" the truth, facts, and "cut" the truth, facts to fit our preconceived ideas of reality, which is our "bed." Taleb argues that there is a "Procrustes" lurking in all of us; this Greek tale, like Aesop's Fables, has a lesson to teach. It is healthy to be aware of this "Procrusteam" tendency in all of us - so we do not mutilate reality. I remain amazed at how much wisdom such "fables" or "myths" or "folk tales" distill into simple story form.